Land developers for the iconic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo. (famous as the inspiration for the hotel in Stephen King's The Shining) announced recently that they need more space and thus will dig up and move the hotel's 12-gravesite pet cemetery. Neighbors told the Fort Collins Coloradoan in September that they feared the construction noise, but somehow ignored the potential release of departed spirits (though an “Animal Planet” “dog psychic” who lives in Estes Park seemed to volunteer her services to calm the pets' souls).

You'd think that Rob Ford, Toronto's crack-smoking-oral-sex-denying-binge-drinking buffoon of a mayor, would be a tough dude to top in any screw-up contest for local politicians.
It's true that Ford's antics have provided an insane amount of...

The second-in-command of the Fresno Police Department and four others were arrested Thursday on federal drug charges, authorities said.
Keith Foster, who joined the department in 1986 and worked as deputy chief since 2007, is accused of conspiring to...

FBI agents and members of an informal task force are investigating whether Robert Durst may be responsible for other unsolved slayings in the various locales where he resided, according to a law enforcement source.
The source, who spoke on the condition...

An Orange County man who was arrested last year on suspicion of trying to travel overseas to join the militant group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, was indicted Wednesday for pledging his alliance and offering to work with them.
Adam Dandach, also...

A former Orange County choir director who disappeared on the eve of his 2007 trial on charges of sexually abusing a teenage boy has been detained in the United Kingdom, authorities said late Tuesday.
Roger Alan Giese, 39, is in custody and awaiting extradition to the United States, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
For four years starting in 1998, Giese is accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy he met while teaching voice for the All-American Boys Chorus, according to the Orange County...

Weighing in on the issue of police and race relations, FBI Director James B. Comey said Thursday that because patrol officers generally spend most of their time dealing with criminals, they may have a hard time believing that someone “could be innocent.”
Comey, speaking at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., noted that most police calls for service come from poor, minority communities.
But black or white, he said, “criminal suspects routinely lie about their guilt, and the...

Kidnappings carried out by extremist groups who seek attention or money for their cause can often stretch out over days or weeks, with negotiators having time and several avenues to reach out to the abductors.
The two police sieges in France on Friday were different, said former hostage negotiator Christopher Voss. Together they presenting authorities with an "uncontained situation" involving, in at least one case, gunmen already suspected of killing 12 people this week at the Paris magazine Charlie...

A man 20 to 25 years old with a thin mustache robbed the Fifth Third Bank, 840 S. Oak Park Ave., of an unknown amount of cash Oct. 3.
He approached the teller at 10:34 a.m., implied he had a gun and handed her a note. After getting the cash, he fled in an unknown direction.
The man had brown eyes, was 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8 and was wearing a jacket with a hood.
A reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest.
Anyone with more information may call the FBI's Chicago office at (312)...

Aurora police have released a 911 call from Friday's fire at the FAA radar facility that wreaked havoc on thousands of flights.
In the 32-second recording, a security officer can be heard requesting assistance.
"We've got smoke in the building so we need the fire department out here," the man said.
He told the dispatcher he was not sure exactly where the smoke was coming from.
Paramedics found contractor Brian Howard, 36, bleeding in the basement of the facility attempting to slit his throat,...

A Wells Fargo Bank branch in Pembroke Pines was robbed Saturday morning, the FBI said.
A robber entered the bank on North University Drive at 9:35 a.m. and demanded money, according to a news release. Customers were in the bank, but no one was hurt. The FBI released surveillance video photos of the robber.
The FBI said he made off with money but did not release the amount. The robber left the area on foot.
Anyone with information on the robber's identity is asked to call the FBI at 305-944-9101.